


[Prototype]: The Catalyst

by shadowdx118



Category: Prototype (Video Games)
Genre: Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-09-19 16:59:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9451235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowdx118/pseuds/shadowdx118
Summary: Become anything, change everything...In 2009, Radical Entertainment released the game [Prototype], a game of unparalleled destructive powers and carnage, following the superhuman amnesiac, Alex Mercer, in his attempts to uncover his past and put a stop to the viral outbreak on the island of Manhattan. This is my attempt at creating a novelized version of that game.





	1. Alex Awakes

**Author's Note:**

> Some disclaimers before we begin...  
> I do not own Prototype in any way shape or form. I do not mean copyright infringement. This is purely for the sake of the amusement of readers and not for profit.  
> There are spoilers for the game since this is a novelization attempt. If you have not played the game, please do not continue and either watch a walkthrough or play the game for yourself.  
> I will not be covering Events save maybe one War event but that depends on if I can fit it in but otherwise I won't, they have no bearing on the story whatsoever.  
> Some cutscenes will not be included as this is from Alex's point of view  
> I apologize for location inaccuracies. Radical isn't exactly to scale with Manhattan and I am no native to New York. I did my absolute best though.  
> I also apologize for any terminology inaccuracies regarding military equipment of any sort. I have no experience with any of the gear used, and I have never driven a tank, APC, or flown a helicopter. Same goes for any military terminology in general.

We were ready to track down anyone who tried to run. So when we tracked this one down in Penn Station we weren’t expecting much from him. We didn’t think much of this scientist. Only that he was branded a threat. The CO said he was the most likely to expose our operations. We didn’t know what he could be packing. So when we did corner him, he pulled something out. A test tube of sorts. It had the virus in it. We knew exactly who he was, and exactly what virus was in it.

“Put down the vial and back away.”

“Just let me go and I’ll do just that.”

“Sir, this is your last warning or we will fire. Please, put down the vial.”

“Put it down? Ok. I’ll put it down.”

The next few seconds were a blur. He… he threw the vial down. The glass shattered and I… one of my men, he… he lost his nerve. We weren’t expecting this kind of situation. None of us expected the bastard to not actually be bluffing. So we fired on him to prove we weren’t bluffing either.

He was dead and we dragged his body out of there in a biohazard bag. The whole place was cleaned up and there were no witnesses to his death.

But that bastard… he started something. Call it a gut feeling. But if I were him, I’d count myself lucky to be dead. With what followed, he’s lucky to be six feet under.

~

He awoke to a void. Actually, awake wasn’t the right word. He couldn’t move, see, talk, anything. All that he could do was feel this searing hot pain. The pain was all he could remember. Everything else was gone. Memories, identity, everything. Everything was gone. He knew they were once there, under all the pain. It was a feeling. Not the pain consuming his body type of feeling, but something else… like an instinctual feeling.

He—that is, if he was even a he—spent what seemed like an eternity writhing in pain. He wanted to scream and cry out for someone, anyone to put him out of his misery. As time slowly dragged on, he began to detect the origin of his suffering—an area towards the center of his being. It seemed to tear away at him, ripping razor sharp claws through what he could only assume was his body.

Then finally a new stimulus entered his world. Sound. More than sound, voices. They were broken and difficult to make sense of, but he listened in hopes that he could forget the pain.

“…knew…he was Blacklight.”

“Yeah… now… ex-Blacklight.” Blacklight? What was that?

“His name… Mercer, Alex J. …kin, Mercer, Dana A.” Alex? Was that his name? Alex Mercer… he liked that. He had a name now. “Is that…”

“I don’t know…” The voices started to become clearer.

“”Do you think… has to do with… Subject on 51?” Subject? 51? Where the hell was he?

“I don’t know. Even more, I don’t want to know. Just give me the eight-inch blade.” Blade? “We’ll start by going through the torso.”

 _What?! No! Let me go! I’m not dead!_ He forced all his efforts forward. _I am_ _not_ _going to be cut up!_

All of his senses exploded. He was no longer trapped in the void, but the light was blaring. Some old instinct rushed to him. _Air! I need air!_ He gasped for breath, he could taste blood on the air and something that made him feel uneasy. The sterile smell, the cold room, and the taste of what he could only describe as death on the air. A word rose up to his mind from nowhere. _Morgue…_

The two who were standing before him were equally as shocked as he was, but likely for other reasons.

Alex—or at least that was the name he was going to stick to unless he was proven otherwise—rolled off of whatever he was on. His legs were not ready for the weight and his knees buckled, forcing him to cling to whatever he just rolled off of for support.

“Get the fuck out!” One screamed.

“Get the kill team in here!”

“Hey! Wait!” He had so many questions, but the two were already long gone, leaving Alex alone.

He managed to pull himself to his feet and maintain his balance. It felt natural to him. At least he remembered how to operate like a functional person, for the most part. He still felt the pain in his chest, and began to stagger. He looked around for a moment and caught sight of a clipboard. He picked it up a read it aloud.

“Alexander Mercer… born July 16, 1979, American, brown hair, blue eyes, 5’10, Head Researcher of Gentek Special Project, and… one known relative, Dana Mercer.” He scanned over the clipboard again, but there was nothing more to it. _Dana, huh? Sounds like a nice girl._

He walked over to the first reflective object, a metal tray, he could find and inspected his appearance. Just as the clipboard said, he had the blue eyes. He picked up the clipboard again and compares his appearance to the photo attached. Besides the warping of the tray, his reflection matched the photo.

He put down the tray and began half walking, half dragging himself to the exit he saw the two escape out through. The hallways seemed eerily empty. Where was everyone? He didn’t have time to wonder about that and frantically began looking around. He didn’t have to be completely coherent to find the bright, glowing exit sign above a door that lead to the stairs. He barely keeps his balance enough to make it up two flights of stairs before half collapsing at a landing. He looks up and the sign designated it to be the ground floor.

Alex staggered out of the lobby and into the open air. Outside of the building, the air was brisk and sharp. Early winter, by his estimate, but that meant nothing at the moment. He ran at full speed—which wasn’t that fast for someone as injured and disoriented as he was—and hid behind a truck. The area surrounding the building looked caged in, and he had no time to run elsewhere. He could hear something above him beating at the air. A helicopter had landed in the lot and several soldiers had exited from it. Against all logic and his better judgement, Alex looked around the corner of the truck and watched.

The two from the morgue began to frantically try to explain the situation. But these soldiers, they weren’t taking it well. They must have said something wrong because one soldier shot one of the two, while another soldier gunned down the other.

The loud noise startled Alex, and he must’ve made some sort of clamor because the soldiers figured out where he was and they turned toward him.

“Aw, shit…” He ran for what looked like an exit but they already cornered him.

“W-wait, wait!” Alex desperately tried to protest, but his words did nothing to help. Like the two before, the soldiers fired on him as well.

Alex cried out in pain and collapsed to his knees. But, he wasn’t dead. He should’ve been. They fired twice as many bullets into him, tearing flesh and bone, yet, he was still alive. Not even seconds after they had fired on him, the pain was replaced with something else. He could feel where the bullets had been fired almost disappear, and whatever bones had been shattered reformed and relocated themselves. But the pain still lingered.

“What’s happening to me?!” The kill team seemed as shocked as he was.

Alex took the opportunity to run for the nearby wall. _If I can get on that dumpster, maybe I can climb that fence._

He misjudged his jump and managed to miss the dumpster entirely and instead of jumping onto it, he jumped over it. In fact, he completely cleared the wall as well. He lands hard on the concrete below. It cracks and caves to the force, almost fragile underneath of him.

“That was… easy.” He mused. He didn’t have a moment to bask in his feat, the pain came rushing back and he flinched. “I need to get the fuck outta here. I can’t keep this up forever…”

Alex looked around, trying to get an idea of where he was. There was some kind of street, but which one, he didn’t know, or care. There was a gate between him and freedom. He mustered what strength he could and leapt over it with ease.

His plan was to start blending in but that wasn’t going to happen. A helicopter flew over and immediately locked onto him. _So much for that plan._ He puts the same strength he had into the jump and sprinted down the street.

The buildings rushed by at impossible rates. He was going at forty, maybe even fifty miles per hour. He was so caught up in his new found speed he didn’t notice the incoming wall.

“Fuck!” He was no physics major, but it didn’t take much to know he was going to crash. In a desperate attempt to save himself, he pushed off the ground and jumped. He hoped that his jump would have been enough to get him close enough to a window sill to grab onto, but he just barely missed it.

“Son of a bitch!” He desperately scrambled for any kind of traction, but something else happened. Rather than desperately flailing, he was still running. He was running, up the side of a building—a completely sheer, vertical surface—as if it were a perfectly horizontal surface.

 _Holy fuck. How is this even happening?!_ He swiftly pushed the thought out of his mind. _No, I don’t have time to think about that. They’re still after me, and they still want me dead._

He reached the top of the building and more or less flips over the edge with a less-than-graceful landing.

 _Okay, I think I should rest here for a bit and catch my breath…_ His thoughts were then so rudely interrupted by gunfire raining down on him. _Never mind._

The rooftops were clearly not safe for him, so instead he slid—half clinging to the wall—back down to ground level and sprinted away.

His speed definitely helped keep him a safe distance from the helicopters in hot pursuit of him, but his injuries were beginning to hinder him again and slow him down.

The moment he thought he was a safe distance away from them, they fired a missile at him. Technically not at him, but near him. The explosion knocked him off his feet and several objects flying.

“Shit!” Alex managed to recover, but a taxi was about to land right where he recovered. Alex did what any normal person would do, and throws his arms up in a defensive reflex. Unlike a normal person, he somehow manages to catch it. It was surprisingly light to him.

“What’re you gonna throw at me next, huh? What do you want from me?!” He shouted angrily at the helicopter. He got no response. Instead, it began to deploy soldiers. _Are you fucking kidding me?_ Out of rage, he threw the taxi in the general direction of the helicopter, in an attempt to hopefully intimidate it. Once again, physics stood only to screw him over and he misjudged his strength. The taxi did not miss the helicopter, but instead it hit it. Both it and the taxi burst into a fiery explosion.

Alex blinked in disbelief, “I can’t believe what I just did.”

Alex made a mad dash to get as far away from the soldiers before they recover.

 _I should get up higher. Get a better vantage point. Maybe get a feel for where I am…_ He skid to a stop and quickly glanced around. Some business tower or whatever or whatever it was seemed tall enough. He raced up the side, and landed in his (still) less-than-graceful manner. And, of course, there were another two helicopters hot on his tail.

“Now I gotta kill them too…” He half groaned. _And no cars up here._

The first one aimed a missile at him, to which he dove behind an air conditioner unit. The missile knocked the unit loose, but Alex was completely fine.

 _Wait. If I can throw cars, who says I can’t throw these things?_ He grabbed the unit, ripping it from it’s base and threw it at one of the helicopters. It hit it’s mark and the helicopter burst into a massive fireball and crashed below Alex’s line of sight.

Alex wasted no time and jumped to another unit and threw it at the other helicopter. As the other spiraled down, he couldn’t help but stare in shock. “This can’t be happening.”

He glanced around. It seemed like whoever the kill team is—or was now—wanted him dead at all costs. “I wonder why.” He grumbled to himself, tone sharp with sarcasm.

Alex checked his surroundings again. “Gotta get the fuck outta here…” He didn’t see an easy way down from the building except…

“No way. I am not jumping.” Alex stepped back from the ledge. He turned back again, and another kill team was beginning to close in on him.

“Well, I tried. Points for trying?” He took a step off the ledge and let gravity do the rest.

The ground approached much faster than he would have liked, and he hit the concrete below, hard.

“Ow…” The fall—despite being from several stories up—had not killed him. It certainly did hurt, and landing on his back hadn’t helped, but he wasn’t dead. _Maybe I don’t have to worry about physical limitations? If that’s the case, maybe I shouldn’t land on my back next time…_

Alex forced himself to his feet only to fall victim to gravity once more. There was no chance he could run now. If he had physical limits, he found his. He surveyed the area quickly and found a small alley across the street that seemed to be well enough out of sight. He pulled his strength once more, barely managing to remain standing this time and slowly staggered his way over towards the alley. By some miracle, he managed to get himself as far back as he could, well out of view.

 _Just need to catch my breath… just gonna… sit down…_ It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you wondering, I will be putting the Memory in Death mission when it actually occurs in game's timeline instead of at the beginning like it does in game.


	2. Unexpected Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry these chapters feel like they're taking forever to be written but my rough draft (which is actually handwritten) was sort of stuck for a while on mission 5, The Wheels of Chance. More on that when I actually write the chapter but I want to have the rough draft to be ahead of the typed version so I can revise characterization and other small details in earlier chapters. Plus I'm a college student trying to get a degree in bioinformatics so this stuff kind of has to come second.

Alex woke to a gunshot and another bullet in his chest. Whoever had shot him, had turned away. _Bad move, pal._ He forced himself to his feet and grabbed his assailant from behind. Using all his strength, he flipped the man over and slammed him on the ground. The impact had snapped his attacker’s neck, and what followed utterly terrified Alex.

His body reacted before he knew what was happening. Some ravenous instinct clawed out from inside him and the taste of metal, gunpowder and oil overwhelmed his mouth, causing him to wince; all while a chorus of voices chanted in his mind: “When we hunt, we kill! No one is safe! Nothing is sacred! We are Blackwatch! We are the last line of defense! We will burn our own to hold the red line; it is the last line to ever hold!”

“What the…” Before he could react, he heard footsteps approaching.

 _Shit… why can’t I just turn invisible?_ Alex stepped back nervously. He while he felt his strength had returned to him, he still wasn’t sure if he could fight off another kill team. A cold feeling washed over him, it ran down his back and vanished as soon as it came. He looked at himself in concern and saw that his clothes had changed to the uniform of the soldier he had just killed.

“Report!” A voice demanded. It was another soldier.

“Uh…” Alex didn’t know what to say. Did this guy think he was one of them?

“Where the fuck is the target?!”

Alex took a step back. _Shit. What if he sees through my disguise?_ Alex steeled himself and did the only logical thing he could think of: strike first.

With little effort, Alex grabbed the soldier and threw the man to the ground. Unlike last time, it wasn’t enough to kill him. Panicked, Alex jumped on top of the man and begun to throw wild punches in hopes of keeping him from radioing for help. Like before, he felt that same feeling reach out and the same disgusting taste filled his mouth. Images rushed by this time and the voices were deafening.

“Fucking goose-stepping motherfuckers!” Someone was struggling against something. A named suddenly came to mind. Dana. Was it his sister? If these Blackwatch guys had her, she probably didn’t stand a chance, but that didn’t stop her from fighting back. He actually felt kind of intimidated by her.

A new voice scoffed at her, “You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

Alex didn’t hear her response, instead the man who scoffed at her said something over the radio, “Roger, 2215 Christopher Street. Apartment 15A. Got it.” There were more words exchanged but he dismissed it. The images soon faded and Alex felt sick.

“My sister… he knew where she is… I know where she is. I need to find her… Dana…” Alex looked around quickly. No one was nearby, but it likely wouldn’t stay that way for much longer. He needed to keep a low profile from here on out, so staying on the streets would be too dangerous. On the plus side, he no longer would be limping his way through the streets. Alex to a running start before jumping and running up the side of a wall. As he reached the rooftop his thoughts began to race as fast as he was sprinting. _Dana… hopefully she can tell me something… anything…_

He wasted no time, making as direct of a route he could towards Dana’s apartment. _Those bastards better not’ve hurt her…_

He was about a block away when he skid to a stop. Those Blackwatch soldiers had surrounded the building’s entrance.

 _Soldiers… if they know who I am, they probably know who she is…_ Alex surveyed the area. _I need to get to a good viewpoint and scope the area out._

He scanned the intersection, but the best place for him to get a good view was directly diagonal from him, the longest possible path. _I need to make this in one jump. If I try to do two, they might notice me and there goes my plan. If I could fly that’s another story, but I can’t fly_.

Alex put a good distance between him and the edge of the building. _At least if I die I’m going to have the best bragging rights in the afterlife. Who else can say they could run up walls vertically, jump hundreds of feet and survive being shot at by missiles and gunfire?_

Alex sprinted forward as fast as he possibly could, and pushed off the ground with all his might as he reached the ledge. The world seemed to fly by in slow motion. His intended landing site was approaching fast, but he didn’t have enough height to make it. _Shit!_ He desperately flailed in an attempt to grab for a ledge. By some miracle, he managed to actually grab the ledge of the rooftop, but his lack of poise only got him to grab it with his left arm. He slammed into the side of the building with considerable force, almost causing him to lose his grip and certainly dislocating his left shoulder. _Fuck you too, physics… fuck you too…_

Shaking off his momentary stun, Alex pulled himself sloppily over the edge and onto the rooftop. He stayed there for a moment, trying to recover. “Note to self… never do that again… ow…”

Part of him—actually, most of him—just wanted to lie there, but he knew better and that he had to get up and get back to his mission. Putting in as much effort as he could, he pulled himself back to his feet and moved to the opposite end of the roof. Alex took a moment to survey the area again. The entrance was heavily guarded. _They know I’m coming. I have to think about this… Hang on. Didn’t I make myself look like one of those guys? If I can do it once, why not again?_ He stepped away from the ledge, hopefully out of sight, and concentrated on the appearance of the soldier he had borrowed the appearance of earlier.

A cold feeling ran down his back, and he recoiled a little on reflex. The feeling left as quickly as it came, and, as he’d hoped, he now had the appearance of the soldier. _Now I can get inside._

Alex slid down the side of the building into an alley, out of sight from the other soldiers, although a few civilians seemed to notice, but they didn’t seem to give his actions much thought. Alex straightened himself up and began to walk over towards the building entrance. Whoever it was that he had become must have been high ranked as the soldiers guarding the entrance saluted him. _Too easy._ He smiled, though they must not have seen, likely due to the mask. The soldiers didn’t even stop and question Alex when he entered the building.

Wasting no time, he half jogged over to the elevator and jabbed at the up button before growing impatient and deciding to take the stairs. As he ran up, he ditched his disguise, his appearance shifting back to his outfit from before. Not even two floors up, Alex already heard someone struggling. He ran down the hall to find that one of the doors was left partially ajar. Alex slowly approached to see that a young woman of about 20 was being held by a soldier.

“Get off me!” She struggled under the soldier’s hold.

“Dana?!” Alex half asked, half exclaimed. There was a glint in the woman’s icy blue eyes that was both cocky confidence and confusion. With little hesitation, the woman smacked the back of her head into the soldier’s face, momentarily stunning him, allowing for her to escape. Almost by muscle memory, Alex took the opening and threw a punch at the soldier. He probably hit a little too hard as he managed to draw blood. His small victory was immediately cut short as soon as he noticed how she was backing away.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He did his best to reassure her. She still kept backing away. “Dana, please… I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

She stopped pulling away, “A-Alex…? I… how…? Is that really you?”

He nodded quietly. “I’d like to explain what little I know but we have to get out of here. The whole damn building’s surrounded.” Alex walked over to a window and forced it open. He scoped the area below. It was an empty backlot that was strangely unguarded. He climbed over the sill and slid off.

“Alex?!” He heard Dana shout behind him, as she ran to the window.

Fortunately for him, he managed to stick the landing somewhat gracefully this time. He turned around and faced her. “Okay, now your turn.”

“Uh, no. It’s a three-story drop. I’ll break something. How the hell did you even survive that drop?!” She called down.

“Don’t worry. I’ll catch you. You can trust me. I promise I won’t let you get hurt.”

“Okay… but I fucking swear, Alex…” Dana let the threat hang as she climbed over and sat in the sill. She hesitated for a moment before dropping down.

Alex did manage to catch her, but not in the way he expected. She somehow came crashing down on top of him, and completely knocked him to the ground. Luckily, Dana somehow was completely unharmed.

“Well, you caught me.” Dana gave Alex a cocky grin as she stood up.

“Ugh… close enough.” He groaned as he rolled over onto his side.

“All right, big bro, let’s get moving before they find us.” She offered him her hand. Alex took it and she helps him up.

He pointed across the street. “Right. We should cut through the alley and hide there.”

“Maybe we should go underground,” Dana suggested. “There’s a service tunnel below that area.”

“And you know this how?”

“Research.” She smiled mischievously. “I’ll show you.”

Dana lead Alex across the street to the alley Alex pointed out. She pointed to a metal cover. “We should be safe-ish down there.” She paused a moment and groaned. “Aww, fuck. I left my crowbar in my apartment.”

“Maybe you don’t need it…” Alex knelt down and, using his new strength, managed to pry the cover off the hole.

“H-How…?” Dana stared.

“I’ll… try to explain.” He sighed. “And why the hell do you need a crowbar?”

Dana answered as she began to climb down the ladder. “School assignments.”

“What the hell kind of assignments are you even doing?” He gave her a weird look before climbing down after her.

“Journalism.” She responded without hesitation.

“Oh.”

Alex pulled the cover back over them and finished climbing down.

“Okay, Superman, start talking.” Dana demanded, arms crossed.

Alex sighed and began explaining what had happened: the morgue, the soldiers, his strength and his memory loss. He kept the fact that he had killed several soldiers in the process from Dana. As he went on, she began to slump to the ground, taking his whole story in. When he finished, he paused a moment before speaking again, “I need your help.”

Dana sighed. “Jesus, I knew something fucked up was going on at Gentek. What the hell the hell happened to you, Alex?”

All he could do was shrug. _I wish I knew…_

She went on, “I’ve been researching that whole fucked up organization for weeks. I was poking around to get you information. Don’t you remember? You wanted to find out what was going on at the highest levels of Gentek—anything about the Director of Research—”

Something flashed in his mind. It looked like an ID card. Dr. Raymond McMullen? The images were faded and almost shaky, and extremely painful for him to focus on.

Dana’s concerned voice pulled him out of his own mind and the images faded. “Are you okay?”

“Do you know what happened?”

Dana stood up, “I… I haven’t even seen you in five years. Not until you show up at my door last month.”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. _Of course. More to add to the mystery…_ “Is there somewhere we can go?”

“Yeah. I, um… I know a place.”

Alex paused. Overhead, he could hear a helicopter fly over. It seemed like whoever those soldiers were had figured out that he and Dana had escaped and were now actively searching for them.

“Where to then?” He asked.

“It’s a small place in… uh… Midtown… Midtown West.” She nodded. “How’re we going to get there?”

Alex hesitated. He actually didn’t think that through. There’s no way they could take a taxi, driving was completely out of the question, and walking would take forever.

Dana interrupted his thoughts, her voice still somewhat weak, “Hey, Superman, if you’re super strong, shouldn’t you be super fast?”

“What’re you getting at?”

“Remember those piggyback rides you gave me when I was little?” Dana shrugged.

“No. Absolutely not.” Alex glared at her.

“Got any better ideas, Einstein?” She retorted.

“Fine. But whatever happens, do. Not. Let. Go. If you feel like you might fall, tell me and I’ll stop, okay?” Dana nodded quietly. Alex turned and climbed up the ladder and pushed off the metal cover. The coast was clear. “Come on. We have an opening.”

Alex climbed out and helped Dana up. Once she was out he replaced the cover back on top of the entrance, and knelt down next to her so she could climb on.

“Look, if you—”

Dana cut him off. “Oh for fuck’s sake, Alex, I’m not five. I’ll be fine. Just go north, and I’ll tell you where to go.”

Alex sighed and sprinted northward. Dana’s grip around his neck tightened.

“Holy shit,” She nearly shouted. “I didn’t expect this!”

“Want me to slow down? I… um… I can slow down if you want.”

“It’s fine,” Dana’s grip didn’t let up. “Just keep on Hudson and get on 8th.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it.” He followed her directions and began down 8th until Dana shouted.

“Turn left now! 45th!”

“Shit!” He skid half to a stop and made a sharp turn and followed down 45th. “A little more warning next—”

“Stop!” Dana suddenly shouted again. Alex skid to a hard stop nearly losing his balance.

“Never. Do. That. Again.” He half growled. He walked them over to the sidewalk before letting Dana off. She seemed very shaken. His annoyance quickly turned to concern. “H-Hey, are you okay?”

“…yeah… I’ll… I’ll be fine. L-Let’s go.” Dana tried to stand up, but her knees buckled under her.

Alex was immediately there at her side, and helped keep her from collapsing entirely. “Hey, careful.”

“Seriously, I’m not five anymore, Alex.” She said with exasperation. “I’ll be fine.”

Dana slowly stood back up and made her way towards the entrance to the building.

“Wait.” Dana stopped and faced Alex who had suddenly spoken up. “I don’t think we should go in the front door.”

“Well, how else are we supposed to get in? This place is on the roof.”

“I’ve got an express elevator pass.”

“What?” Dana blinked.

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes, but—”

“Do you trust me?” He asked again.

“Yes.”

“Get back on, and for God’s sake, do not look down.” Alex knelt back down. Dana hesitantly climbed back on. Alex took a deep breath. “Feel free to close your eyes.”

Alex put some space between him and the building. He took another breath before sprinting at the wall. Dana’s grip around his neck tightened again. He jumped and began running up the sheer surface again. Unlike before, however, he had another person’s weight so he had to keep running as fast as he could so they both wouldn’t drop. When he neared the top, unlike doing his usual, ungraceful landing, he simply jumped over, and for once, stuck the landing.

“You okay back there?” He asked quietly.

“Holy… fuck…” Dana barely managed to speak. Alex knelt down once more and let her off. “That… that was fun. Let’s never do that again.”

“Good to know. We’ll take the regular elevator next time.” Alex smiled awkwardly. He felt this warm feeling in his chest. Having a sister was great, and he loved it. For what he’s been through today, it was really nice to know that someone had his back, especially since the whole world seemed out to kill him.

“I’ll go in first.” Dana pulled out a key. “If someone’s in there, since they want me as a hostage and not dead, they probably won’t shoot me.”

Dana walked over to a door and unlocked it. There was a moment of silence before she finally said something. “So, come in.”

Alex did as he was told and cautiously entered. The supposed safehouse was a mess. It clearly seemed as though Dana had half moved in, but there were some things that were clearly not hers.

“It’s a… uh… it’s a friend’s place,” she explained. “They’re gone for a year, Patagonia or something.”

Alex looked around, in the corner, there were countless documents strewn across the wall. “Any idea what this all means?”

“No, but I’m going to find out. I mean, this is the story of the century so somebody’s gotta know what the fuck’s going on here.” Dana’s voice was full of quiet resolve. “You know… they were waiting for me at my place, so… they’re most definitely at yours.”

“Where do I live?” He felt rather stupid for asking.

Dana pointed to the map, and pinned to it was a sticky note conveniently labeled ‘Alex’s Apartment’. “There.”

“You’ll be here when I get back? It’s best you stay put—they’re probably combing the city for both of us.” Alex really wanted to make sure she wouldn’t get hurt.

Alex could see a look in her eyes that said ‘There’s no fucking way I’m doing that whole thing ever again’, but she only managed to say, “Yeah… I’ll be here.”

Alex nodded before heading out of the safehouse to go to his next destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added my own interpretation of what happened in between some cutscenes because those random cuts bothered me and I really, really wanted to develop Alex and Dana's relationship beyond just a mission giver and the player. They already have a really trusting sibling relationship, but I wanted to give them more time together because I really love Alex and Dana as a kickass sibling duo but I felt like there wasn't enough.


	3. Past and Present

Alex stepped outside of the safehouse. Previously, he would’ve been uncontrollably nervous—although, that was only a few hours ago—but with Dana at his side he felt a new surge of confidence. He didn’t have to go on alone. “They’re going to be waiting for me. They think they’re in control… but they have no idea what I’m capable of.” 

Alex took a deep breath and began to sprint due north. The sun had risen on a new day. People were already out and about, going off to work and living their lives just as they did the day before. Something in Alex envied their nonchalant attitudes and how they could go on with their lives, but now that was a luxury he could no longer afford.

As he raced across the southern boundary of Central Park, he couldn’t help but watch the people walk by, minding their own business. New York is really amazing. The city was almost alive, the people were its lifeblood, and now there was some kind of threat, the threat of whoever those soldiers were and Alex was going to get to the bottom of whatever they were up to and put a stop to it.  _ These people have no idea some psycho army’s on the loose… _

Alex shook off the thought and made a sharp left turn, continuing on his way towards the Upper East Side. No more than five minutes later he skid to a stop. He didn’t know exactly where he was but it felt familiar. A name came to his mind.  _ Renalia? _ He assumed that was the name of the building. 

Taking another breath to ease his nerves, Alex slid down the side of the building into an alleyway. No one seemed to pay him any mind. Alex walked over to the entrance, so far, there were no signs of any hostile people.

“Home… my home.” He muttered to himself. He looked up at the building, the height seemed to be staggering. Alex did his best to shake off his nerves—which seemed to refuse to go away—taking another deep breath before entering.

“Ah, Dr. Mercer, right?” A young woman at the desk greeted him. Alex could only nod. “Your sister called and said you left the keys to your apartment at her place.”  _ Doctor, huh? Of what? _

“Yeah…” He sighed.

“Tough day at the office?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, plus my sister needed some help with a biology assignment she hadn’t done until now so we were both up all night working on that.” That was quite the lie, but he was still up all night no thanks to the military.

“Ouch. Well, if it’s any consolation, we have an extra set of keys available.” She held up a set of keys. Alex took them and began to walk over to the elevator and immediately stopped short. He laughed a little nervously before turning back towards the young woman.

“I might be more sleep deprived than I thought. Which one am I again?”

The young woman gave him a bit of a mock scolding look. “I think you should take the week off, Doc. That’s a pretty serious case of the stupids you’ve got there. I’m not the professional here, but you should at least take a day off.” She shook her head. “You’re in 1505.”

“Thank you, Miss…”

“Uh, Foster. Katelynn Foster.” The young woman gave him a bit of an awkward grin.

“Well, thank you, Miss Foster, you saved me from wandering around like an exhausted idiot.” Alex returned her smile and walked toward the elevator. As he got on, he heard the woman pick up the phone. 

“Yeah? …He’s here. Just got in. Give it 15 minutes before—”

The doors closed before Alex got a chance to hear her finish.  _ That doesn’t sound good. _ Was everyone out to get him? He shook off the thought. Now was not the time, he needed to focus. If the military were on to him, he needed to be quick. Who knows what stupid things they might try to pull?

The elevator soon arrived and Alex cautiously exited. He really was not in the mood to be shot… again. Surprisingly, no one was there waiting for him. Not letting this opportunity pass, Alex made his way to apartment 1505. He stared at the door for a moment before he pulled out the key he was given. Hesitantly, he enters.

The apartment seemed foreign to him. Alex had really hoped that by returning to his apartment he’d feel some sort of connection, or some sort of… well, anything. But instead he felt like he was breaking and entering into someone else’s home. There was a desk, a computer and a crapton of books as well as the basic necessities.

Alex turned to his left and there was a row of framed pictures. They were filled with countless people he didn’t really know. He saw Dana in a few, although much younger, and some of them with someone he assumed to be himself. One photo in particular caught his attention. He was with a woman, his arms wrapped around her and both of them seemed very happy, her name escaped him but she seemed very familiar. Alex felt himself reach out for the photo, trying to grasp a memory that wasn’t quite there, when a searing pain shot through him.

Images rushed through his mind, the woman in the photo, was talking to him, desperately trying to tell him something. Her desperate pleads turned to scrambled nonsense and Alex couldn’t understand what she was saying. Every time she spoke the noise became louder and louder and the memory became brighter and brighter. What did she want? Something told him she was begging him not to do something stupid, but the memory became more and more corrupted with each time it seemed to repeat, the pain becoming more and more unbearable.

_ Stop! _ He pulled himself out of his own mind and backed away from the photos, almost in fear. Maybe he should stop searching for the truth if all they brought him was pain.

Alex scanned the room for anything else he might want to grab but he froze. There was something wrong. An uncanny beeping was ringing out from somewhere. Before he could react, the room ignited in a massive, fiery blast. The explosion threw him out the window. Alex was too stunned to think. Instead he acted on instinct, twisting himself out of his prone position so he could at least land in a more optimal way.

The ground below him crumbled under the force of his fall. Fortunately, besides the fragile asphalt, there were no casualties. Alex forced himself upright and scanned the area. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Some people were quite stunned by what just occurred before their eyes but nothing seemed out of place, then he saw it. Down the street he saw a man in a suit being escorted out by some soldiers.

“He’s the one…” Alex couldn’t finish his sentence. More soldiers had arrived and the man in the suit climbed into a tank and fled.  _ Coward! _

“Goddamn, that thing’s still moving!” Alex heard one soldier shout. “Target in the open!” Giving Alex no chance to react, the soldiers opened fire on him.  _ Can I go just one fucking day without getting shot at?! _

Alex took a running start and sent an awkward flying kick towards the soldiers. He managed to take out a few but Alex was as good as surrounded. Alex began to throw wild punches, easily taking out several soldiers with his enhanced strength, but their onslaught seemed to have no end.

“Red Crown, we sighted a high-pri Tango, reroute Strike Team.” Alex heard a soldier radio in.

“Aww shit… here comes the cavalry…” Alex grumbled. He estimated that he had two minutes at best to get away as fast as he could. As much as he would love to give the Strike Team a taste of a flying kick, there’s no way he’d survive both a Strike Team and the present military forces as they were. As much as it hurt his pride, Alex turned and bolted down the street.

“Target is trying to escape!” Alex heard from behind but didn’t look back for even a second.

_ They’re going to keep chasing me. I need to get them off my trail… I think it’s time to test my acting skills. _ Alex made a sharp turn around a corner and down an alley. He skid to a stop and shifted his form to a commander from the other day. Alex began to half limp out of the alley, clutching his side as if in pain. He took no more than five steps out of the alley before his pursuers caught up with him. Several soldiers grappled down from the helicopters on cables and one ran over to him.

“Sir, what happened?” The soldier asked.

“Target… target escaped,” Alex said, pretending he was in pain. “I… he shoved me out of the way… bastard hits like a truck. He escaped and ran up the fucking wall.”

The soldier nodded and reached for his radio. “Red Crown, I found an officer. He reports that Tango Primary slipped the grid. Orders?”

Alex heard a voice over the radio, “Strike package return to base for debriefing. Over.”

“Roger, Red Crown.” The soldier turned to Alex. “Sir, it would be best you wait here for medical evac. For all we know Zeus could be at the commander’s extraction point, and you are far from a fighting condition.”

Alex struggled to stand upright, “Bullshit. I can still fight—Nngh.” He winced, although the mask he wore didn’t show it, and grabbed his side again. “Fucking… son of a bitch…”

The soldier guided Alex to the wall of a nearby building and helped him sit down. “Sir, we’ll call in for a medical evac right now.”

Alex gave a defeated nod and watched as the soldier rejoined his comrades and radioed in something. Moments later the Strike Team was gone without a trace, seemingly heading over towards Central Park.

Alex laughed under his disguise, “How the  _ fuck _ did that work? I wasn’t even trying to fool them and somehow they bought it.” Alex stood up and shifted his form back to himself. “‘Zeus’, huh? Is that what they’re calling me? I guess that’s kind of cool. Anyway, time to find that bastard and give him a piece of my mind.”  _ By taking some of his. _

Alex moved quickly through the streets to Central Park. He vaulted over the wall between the city and the park. Alex looked around to try to pin down where the extraction point was for the guy in the suit, but to no avail. He was about to give up when the uncanny sound of blades chopping through air passed overhead. Alex looked up and caught sight of a few helicopters flying a lot lower than they should.  _ Perfect timing. _

Alex tailed the helicopters and found himself in a clearing with what appeared to be some kind of stronghold. Alex surveyed the area quickly. There was a tank, which probably had the suit-guy in it.  _ Gotta get him outta there… _ Alex scanned the area again. He saw a rack of missile launchers.  _ Those look useful. _

Alex took a moment to plan.  _ Okay, so the soldiers here clearly aren’t Blackwatch. Blackwatch guys wear the gas mask thing and the other guys… I don’t know who they are—the Army or something—they’re probably not going to obey my disguise since that commander’s Blackwatch. So that leaves me with only one option…  _

Alex took starting stance and sprinted in at full force. “Bring it on!”

Alex’s sudden entrance caught the entire base off guard, giving him a brief moment of opportunity. Alex leapt over a wall to a soldier with some sort of missile launcher and used the momentum to knee the soldier in the face leaving the rack of launchers mostly unguarded. Alex grabbed one launcher and slung another onto his back. At this time, the soldiers had rallied and had begun to fire on him.

Not taking any time to think on a formal plan, Alex jumped into the air and aimed at the tank the man in the suit had climbed into and fired on it. Alex did not anticipate the recoil to be so great and ended up getting knocked square on his back. Scrambling to his feet, Alex fired at the tank once again. This time, he managed to hold his ground, and the man in the suit desperately clambered out of the heavily damaged tank, just barely escaping a fiery grave and made a beeline for waiting helicopters.

“Got you now.” Alex tosses the two launchers aside and gave chase. 

Alex stumbled his first few steps, lightheaded and fatigued from blood loss and all the bullets that had riddled his body, but he easily caught up to the man in the suit, grabbing the man by his shirt collar. “You blew me up and tried to kill me. I oughta return the favor, but I need your memories.”

The man desperately begged for his life, but it would be to no avail. Alex threw the man against a wall and drove his elbow into the back of the man’s neck. 

Unlike previous times where he looked away, Alex watched what happened and immediately regretted it. Tendrils of some sort grabbed the man and began pulling the living biomass towards him like some kind of hungry monster. A violent chill ran down Alex’s spine but his feelings of fatigue and lightheadedness seemed to almost fade away. Soon after the all too familiar tastes of gunpowder, oil, and metal filled his mouth and the memories followed immediately blindsiding him.

“Doctor, try to keep the discussion high level. We need to know what we’re dealing with on the ground.”

“It’s effect is… variable. When it  _ does _ manifest it makes the Idaho strain look like the common cold.”

“I don’t need to remind you gentlemen how close we came to the point of no return in Idaho. Mercer’s body is a bomb, filled with this weaponized pathogen, waiting to go off. And now it’s loose in the city. Bring it in, no matter what it takes. I’d say dead or alive, but I’m not sure those classifications fit Alex Mercer any longer.”

The memory faded, leaving Alex dazed. “I can see what he saw… I know what he knew… his memories are my memories—” Alex didn’t get a chance to finish his thought when he felt the bullets tear through him yet again.  _ This is going to become some kind of routine, isn’t it? _

Alex ran from Central Park and made as much space between it and him as he could, his thoughts still racing.  _ Idaho strain? And what the hell did they mean by not being classified as dead or alive? Is what I have that bad? They must have done something to me. Why? Why me? And why do they want me dead now? _

Alex cut down a corner and took the appearance of the man in the suit and watched as the helicopters flew over him and the soldiers run past him, completely unsuspecting of his appearance change. Alex couldn’t help but smile.  _ Heh, that was too easy. _

His thoughts still wandered as he made his way back to Dana’s apartment.  _ They did something to me, they dragged Dana—and the whole city—into this mess, and now they’re trying to kill me. I don’t know what they’re up to or why, but I’m going to find out. I’m going to get some goddamn answers no matter what. Even if I have to pry the answers out of them by force. _

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really sorry if it seems like it takes a really long time for me to write chapters. I am a full time student in college. And the way I'm going about writing this is making it even longer. I have two versions of this: A handwritten rough draft and the typed final draft. The handwritten version already takes me a while to write as I work along side a playthrough. Specifically this one: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_HkB-0qkyYgpa4WvBCIlRetzpj5GFrUM And it's actually quite difficult to write most of the time as this person has no sense of stealth so I end up having to improvise several stealth scenes.  
> I also am taking time to world build a lot more. I want to make the story seem more alive and connected than it was in game. I also like to do research to make sure that what I can make accurate is actually accurate to real life. Such as driving an APC. For those of you who know me on Twitter, this was a long struggle.  
> I'll do my best not to let updates only be once a month but know that this isn't my top priority and getting my degree in Bioinformatics is. But if you are the impatient type, follow me on Twitter, corpseshadow118, for live updates (and for general complaints about my life) or if you want actual pictures of the rough draft, follow ProtoAres, hopefully you can read my handwriting.
> 
> 10/22/17: A quick update regarding this fic: Due to the circumstances of me trying to get a college degree, my major being very time consuming, and just struggling with writer's block in general, I'm currently unable to continue writing for the foreseeable future. That doesn't mean this fic is going to end here. I have every intention of finishing this eventually however I have to put it aside for now. I do have plans for a Prototype 2 fic/novelization though so you have that to look forward to... or not. Hehe.


End file.
